We’ve updated you on how Parker’s global vehicle motor has been applied in various motor vehicle competitions, but this post makes us particularly happy.

Being an Ohio-based company that also has a concern for sustainability, we were pleased to see The Ohio State University come out the winner in the first phase of EcoCAR 3, a four-year student competition to reengineer a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro into a performance hybrid.

Ohio State topped 15 other teams from universities across the United States and Canada to achieve the first place finish. But that’s not surprising: for eleven consecutive years, the Ohio State team has made the top five in the U.S Department of Energy’s Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC) series.

“Parker was a very important part of our design process this year. Parker worked closely with our student engineers to provide different motor and winding options.”

Dr. Shawn Midlam-Mohler, OSU faculty advisor for the team

“Parker [ensured] that we were sizing our motor so that it would work well with the capabilities of our battery and would allow us to meet our performance targets. We didn't want to oversize the motor since cost was a factor in our design. Their technical support helped us make sure we were running in-depth simulations in order to produce the best car down the line.”

M.J. Yatsko, OSU Team leader

Research pays off for Ohio State team

The judges were also impressed by the depth of research by the Ohio State team. Trevor Thompkins, co-communications manager for the Ohio State EcoCAR project said, “We had about 17 deliverables throughout the year, and most of those were reports. The big goal for year one was the vehicle architecture selection. We did presentations on mechanical, electrical systems, modeling, simulations, communications, outreach, project management, and a few more.”

See some of the accolades the team received in this short video.

The race is on . . .

The next phase of EcoCAR 3 will involve integrating all the components into the vehicle. The race is on--and the Ohio State team intends to build a winning vehicle and remain a strong competitor in EcoCAR 3 over the next three years.

Did you know?

Aiding the Ohio State EcoCAR3 team is just one of many ways Parker supports student engineering. Other support includes building university fluid power labs, granting scholarships and hosting our annual Chainless Challenge.